Course 1

Chapter 1
Introduction to WCDMA System

Index
1.1 Why WCDMA ?
1.1.1 HSCSD
1.1.2 GPRS
1.1.3 EDGE
1.1.4 3rd Generation Mobile System
1.2 UMTS Standardization
1.3 WCDMA Air Interface Requirements
1.4 UMTS Architecture
1.4.1 Core Network
1.4.2 UTRAN
1.4.3 User Equipment
1.4.4 External Networks

1.1 Why WCDMA ?

In 1996 Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) phase 2 +, which is the current phase of
the GSM system, was put on the market. The most important services of phase 2 + with respect to
increased data service bit rates are:
1) High Speed Circuit Switched Data (HSCSD).
2) General Packet Radio Services (GPRS).
3) Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE).
GSM phase 2+, enables voice and data communication to go wireless with relatively low bit rate.
To transmit voice, circuit switch communication is utilized, while for data communication, packet
switch communication is used.
1.1.1 HSCSD
The maximum bit rate for the Circuit Switched (CS) data connection, using a single physical
channel, is 14.4kbps. High Speed Circuit Switched Data (HSCSD) service enables the network to
establish a data connection with a higher bit rate by allocating more than one physical channel.
The maximum number of channels that can be allocated for a given connection is 8, resulting in a
total bit rate around 115kbps. The HSCSD connection can be symmetric or asymmetric.
Symmetric HSCSD connection means, that the same number of channels is used on both uplink
and downlink connection, while in case of asymmetric traffic, the number of channels allocated in
downlink is higher than in uplink direction. The idea of symmetric and asymmetric HSCSD traffic
is presented in Figure 1.1. Moreover there is also a possibility to increase or reduce the number of
channels during the connection, depending on the subscriber or application needs.

Figure 1.1. HSCSD connection

1.1.2 GPRS
The GPRS system is implemented inside the existing GSM system to share the same radio
resources. GPRS offers much higher data rate comparing to GSM one. The data rate depends on
the quality of the radio connection and the coding scheme used. There are four coding schemes
defined, which are presented in Table 1.1.
Channel Coding
Scheme
CS-1
CS-2
CS-3
CS-4

Modulation
GMSK
GMSK
GMSK
GMSK

Max. Data Rate per

timeslot [kbps]
8
12
14.4
20

Table 1.1 GPRS coding schemes with corresponding maximum data

rates. The maximum data rate presented in the table is user information data
rate. The maxumum data rate is presented in the table and the actual data
rate depends on interference conditions.

In order to support GPRS, multiple channels can be allocated for Packet Switched (PS) connections.
The maximum number of channels allocated is eight resulting in the bit rate of 820=160kbps.
The same as HSCSD, the GPRS system supports symmetric and asymmetric traffic. Moreover the
GPRS system uses the same Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK) modulation scheme as GSM
system.
1.1.3 EDGE
Increasing customer demands for higher data rates, growing amount of data traffic, increase in
internet users and sharp need for new flexible communication systems enhanced the
manufacturers and operators to create new opportunities in telecommunication market. Next
approach in increasing the bit rate is Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE). This
narrowband system is capable to provide the third generation services within the GSM band with a
bit rate up to 500kbps. EDGE includes advanced features to improve the spectrum efficiency and
to support new features.
EDGE is in fact a new modulation scheme that is three times more effective than the currently
used GMSK. It offers the higher data rates but at the same time it is more sensitive to transmission

Channel Coding
Scheme
MCS-1
MCS-2
MCS-3

Modulation
EDGE (8-PSK)
EDGE (8-PSK)
EDGE (8-PSK)

Max. Data Rate per

timeslot [kbps]
28.8
32.0
43.2

Table 1.2. ECSD coding schemes.

The CS services utilizing EDGE are called Enhanced Circuit Switched Data (ECSD). ECSD uses
EDGE together with HSCSD and then the maximum bit rate for a connection is around 345kbps,
that is 843.2kbps.
The new PS services utilizing EDGE are called Enhanced GPRS (E-GPRS). For
E-GPRS nine coding schemes are defined, listed in Table 1.3.
Channel Coding
Scheme
MCS-1
MCS-2
MCS-3
MCS-4
MCS-5
MCS-6
MCS-7
MCS-8
MCS-9

Modulation
GMSK
GMSK
GMSK
GMSK
EDGE (8-PSK)
EDGE (8-PSK)
EDGE (8-PSK)
EDGE (8-PSK)
EDGE (8-PSK)

Max. Data Rate per

timeslot [kbps]
8.8
11.2
14.8
17.6
22.4
29.6
44.8
54.4
59.2

Table 1.3. E-GPRS coding schemes.

The maximum bit rate for PS connection achieved in E-GPRS is over 470kbps, that is 859.2
kbps.

1.1.4 3rd Generation Mobile System

The third generation systems are designed for high data rates, which enable to offer multimedia
services. The evolution process of wireless communications is illustrated in Figure 1.2 and Figure
1.3.

Figure 1.2. Evolution of telecommunication services.

Figure 1.3. Services and their data rates.

Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) is the most widely adopted new generation air
interface. It is assumed to be flexible and to support a wide variety of services. The most
important ones are the ability to support a high-speed data transmission and multimedia
services.

1.2 UMTS Standardization

UMTS was specified within the third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The main aim of 3GPP
was to create a common standardisation platform uniform for all telecommunications companies
all over the world. In the creation of 3GPP the following standardisation bodies, were involved:
1) European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI)
2) Association of Radio Industries and Businesses (ARIB) from Japan
3) Telecommunications Technology Association (TTA) from Korea
4) Standards Committee T1 Telecommunications (T1) from USA
5) China Wireless Telecommunications Standard group (CWTS).
Four specification groups were set up within 3GPP:
) Radio Access Network Technical Specification Group.
) Core Network Technical Specification Group.
) Service and System Aspects Technical Specification Group.
) Terminals Technical Specification Group.
The most relevant to the WCDMA technology is the Radio Access Network Technical Specification
Group (RAN TSG) divided into four different working groups as presented in Figure 1.4.
The RAN TSG produced the UTRA air interface specification. Also work on GPRS and EDGE was
moved from ETSI to 3GPP and a new technical specification group was created, called GERAN
TSG.
The standardisation bodies also agreed to harmonise the global third generation CDMA standard
consisting of three modes:
) Multi Carrier (MC) based on the cdma2000 multi-carrier option.
) Direct Spread (DS) based on UTRA Frequency Division Duplex, UTRA FDD.
) Time Division Duplex (TDD) based on UTRA TDD.

Figure 1.4. 3GPP RAN TSG groups.

The UTRA FDD and TDD mode use today the chip rate of 3.84Mcps instead of early used
4.096Mcps. Additionally the TDD mode uses lower chip rate, that is 1.28Mcps.
Summarising, today there is only one Direct Spread wideband CDMA standard, WCDMA, often
called Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) TDD and FDD. The name WCDMA is used to cover
both TDD and FDD operation modes.

Figure 1.5. CDMA modes.

1.3 WCDMA Air Interface Requirements

The differences in the air interface between GSM and WCDMA reflect the new requirements of the
third generation system specified within 3GPP standardization body. There are the following third
generation system requirements:
Bit rate up to 2 Mbps.
Variable bit rate.
Bandwidth available on demand.
Multiplexing of services with different quality requirements on a single connection.
Delay requirements from delay-sensitive real-time traffic to flexible best effort packet data.
Quality requirements range up to 10-6 BER.
Coexistence of the second and the third generation systems for a better radio resource
management.
Support of asymmetric uplink and downlink traffic.
High spectrum efficiency.
Coexistence of TDD and FDD mode.
The differences in the air interface reflect the new requirements of the WCDMA system. The most
important ones are:
Carrier spacing. The carrier spacing used in WCDMA is 5MHz, comparing to 200kHz in GSM
system. A larger bandwidth of 5 MHz is needed to support higher bit rates.
Frequency reuse factor. Frequency reuse factor in the third generation system is always1.
Power control frequency. Power control frequency used is 1500kHz, while in GSM system
2kHz or lower is used.
Quality control. To enhance a quality control, radio resource management algorithms are
used. It is specially important to maintain the transmission of variable user bit rates to support
the concept of bandwidth on demand, assorted services and quality requirements. Advanced
radio resource management algorithms are used to maximize the system throughput. In the
GSM system the quality control was reached by means of efficient frequency planning and
radio network planning. .
Frequency diversity. A 5MHz frequency bandwidth offers multipath diversity. The signal

Packet data transmission. The packet data transmission in WCDMA systems is realised by a
load-based packet scheduling ensuring also non-real time packet data transmission. In GSM
systems a time slot based scheduling was used.
Downlink transmission diversity. The downlink transmission diversity is a new feature
supported by the WCDMA system. It is designed to improve the downlink capacity to support
the asymmetric capacity requirements between uplink and downlink.

For better understanding of the differences between second and third generation systems, the
background principles are summarised in Table 1.4.

Carrier Spacing
Frequency Reuse Factor
Power Control Frequency
Quality Control

GSM
200 kHz
1 to 18
2 Hz or Lower
Frequency Planning

Frequency Diversity

Frequency Hopping

Packet Data Transmission

WCDMA
5 MHz
1
1.5 kHz
RRM Algorithms
Multipath Diversity with Rake
Receiver

Time slot based scheduling with

Load based packet scheduling
GPRS

Downlink
Table 1.4.Transmission
Main differences between GSM and WCDMA air interface.
Not supported by the standard Used for improving DL capacity
Diversity

1.4 UMTS Architecture

The WCDMA radio access network called Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) can
be connected to the second generation basic solutions for the core network, that is GSM core
network and GPRS core network. The most typical connections between the existing core
networks and third generation UTRAN network are depicted in Figure 1.7.
The Core Network (CN) comprises the whole Switching Subsystem infrastructure from GSM and
GPRS backbone network. The most important is an introduction of UTRAN, that is third generation
access network based on WCDMA air interface.

Figure 1.7. UMTS architecture.

The Mobile Equipment (ME) is designed to support WCDMA air interface and allows connection to
UMTS network for both UMTS subscribers using UMTS SIM (USIM) card and GSM subscribers using
SIM card. The market needs will determine which combinations will be used by operators. It is
expected that the second generation core network for voice services will remain. Later, it will be
possible to use IP-based core network for all services.

1.4.1 Core Network

The main elements of the GSM CN and GPRS backbone network are as follows:
MSC/VLR
Mobile services Switching Centre (MSC) associated with a Visitor Location Register (VLR) performs
the telephony switching functions of the circuit switched system for all users registered within its
serving area. It control calls to and from other telephony and data systems. The VLR is a database
containing information about all MS that are currently located in the MSC serving area.
HLR
Home Location Register node is a database that holds all subscriber relevant information for every
person who has bought a subscription from the operator. The information includes, for example,
supplementary services or authentication parameters. In addition, the HLR includes information
about the location of the MS.
GMSC
Gateway MSC node is responsible for routing all incoming CS connections to a proper MSC, where
a mobile subscriber is currently registered.
SGSN
The Serving GPRS Support Node forwards incoming and outgoing IP packets addressed to/from an
MS that is attached within the SGSN service area. The functionality of SGSN is similar to that of
MSC/VLR but is dedicated for Packet Switched (PS) services. SGSN also provides ciphering and
authentication, session management, mobility management as well as collects billing information
for each MS related to the radio network usage.
GGSN
The Gateway GPRS Support Node provides the interface towards the external IP packet networks.
From the external IP networks point of view, the GGSN acts as a router for the IP addresses of all
subscribers served by the GPRS network. GGSN also collects billing information for each MS,

1.4.2 UTRAN
UTRAN consists of two elements: Node B and Radio Network Controller (RNC).
Node B
Node B maintains the radio connection to the mobile station. The term Node B from the
corresponding 3GPP specifications means exactly the same as the generic term Base Station.
RNC
Radio Network Controller controls the allocated radio resources (connected Nodes B). It is the
services access point for all services, which UTRAN provides the CN, for example management of
connections to the User Equipment (UE).
1.4.3 User Equipment
The User Equipment (UE) also consists of two parts: the Mobile Equipment (ME) and the UMTS
Subscriber Identity Module (USIM).
ME
The Mobile Equipment (ME) is the radio terminal used for radio communication over the air
interface.
USIM
The UMTS Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) is a smart card that holds the subscriber identity,
performs authentication algorithms and stores authentication, encryption keys and some
subscription information.
1.4.4 External Network
The external networks can be divided into two groups:
Circuit Switch (CS) networks. These networks provide circuit-switched connections. Examples
of CS networks are Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and Integrated Services Digital
Network (ISDN).
Packet Switch (PS) networks. These networks provide connections for packet data services. En
example of the PS network is the Internet.